A/N: My first fanfiction. Please review and tell me if I should continue.

The room was peaceful, and it had a serenity about it. A fire crackled in the hearth, rich brown rugs were strewn around the spacious chamber, and comfortable sofas were surrounding a small glass table. In all, it seemed picture perfect. Until someone, or rather, a few people came and destroyed that peace.

"Aaaaaaaaaagghhhhhh!" Dan yelped as he materialized in the room with a flash of gold. "Shut up, you dweeb!" Amy hissed, for once her voice not stuttering. "Well, that's one point for Amy Cahill!" Dan declared, with the air of a sports announcer. "Ladies and gentlemen, how many more do you think she'll score?"

Amy glared at her younger brother. "Dan, we don't know where we are, we may be stuck here forever, the Kabras could have done this, and all you can think of is announcing to the world that I actually said something without stuttering?" No stuttering, again. Dan noticed this. "Ladies and gentlemen, Amy Cahill has scored another point! Round of applause, if you will!"

A flash of light, and then a bored voice. "And who exactly, are we applauding?" Dan whipped around, his eyes widening. There stood two perfect figures, both with their arms crossed. Ian and Natalie Kabra, looking immaculate as always. Amy flushed, wrapping her eyes around herself. "Uh…..uh…." her eyes darted around frantically.

"Welcome, welcome, Cobras," Dan said sarcastically. Despite his previous words, his eyes were serious. "Is this some kind of joke? You know, if you wanted our clue, you could have just asked. Not that we would have given it to you anyway."

Amy elbowed her brother. Hard. You dweeb! You just told them we have a lead! Dan looked guilty, his expression contrite as he met his eyes. Sorry, alright? Amy gave a small nod, and Dan felt a flicker of relief.

"Unfortunately," Natalie spoke up, her voice smooth. "We do not know why we are here either." Dan faked a gasp of shock. He clutched at his chest dramatically. "The great Natalie Cobra has admitted she doesn't know something!" Suddenly, he dropped his act and became serious again, with an astonishing quickness to it.

Natalie looked irritated. But before she could insult Dan, there was another flash of gold light. "Mrrp!" There was Saladin, the Egyptian Mau, looking quite annoyed. He stalked toward Dan, looking at him reproachfully, as if asking, Why am I here? Where is my red snapper?

Dan shrugged, bending down to pick Saladin up. "I don't know either, dude." "How original," Ian's voice was bored. "Talking to your cat."

Amy glared at Ian, ignoring the flutters of panic and betrayal in her stomach. Her heart ached, remembering the harsh betrayal. "S-shut u-up," she tried not to stutter, but she did. "Of course Amy," Ian smiled as if he never betrayed her. "Anything for you."

Dan glared furiously at Ian. "Don't talk to Amy like that," he snarled. Ian only smiled and shrugged. There was another flash of golden light, and then Nellie appeared. Her earbuds were in her hands, and she looked furious.

"Where the hell were you, kiddos?" she snapped. "Here I was, rockin' to some music, and then you disappear!"

Amy shrugged. And that was all the answer Nellie needed. The au pair moved closer to Amy and Dan, eyeing the Kabras suspiciously. Another flash of light, and then another, and then another. "Seriously," Dan muttered. "Why is there so much light?"

The first flash brought Alistair Oh, clutching his diamond cane and scratching his head. Thankfully, he wasn't in his pink pajamas. "Where are we, children?" he mumbled, orientating himself.

The other two flashes brought Jonah Wizard and Hamilton Holt, both looking equally confused and irked.

"Yo, homies," Jonah called. "Where we at, yo? Gotta get back to the showbiz, yo." Hamilton's words were less adorned with "yo's."

"Where are we?" he asked, glancing at Amy. Amy shrugged again, stuttering. "I d-don't k-know." Natalie sighed wearily. "Do stop stuttering, dear Amy," she purred. "Or don't talk at all."

Hamilton frowned, he still liked Amy and Dan. They were honest, and Hamilton wanted to be their friends and allies, no matter what his dad said. "Don't talk to Amy like that," he snapped at the Kabras.

Everyone looked shocked, and Amy got even redder. "T-thanks, H-hamilton," she murmured quietly. "Well," Ian's voice was amused. "It seems you're striking up a little fan club, Amy."

Dan opened his mouth to argue, but before he could, there were two more flares of golden light. He quickly shut his mouth, taking a step back as he realized who they were. His blood ran cold as he recognized the newcomers, and he saw that the blood had drained from Amy's face.

"Greetings, my children," Isabel Kabra purred. Vikram stood on her left side, smiling devilishly. If Dan wasn't so scared, he would have taken out a camera and snapped a few pictures of Ian and Natalie. Their faces were priceless.

Jonah and Hamilton looked dumbfounded. "Yo, what's going on here, yo?" Isabel looked at Jonah as if he were the lowest scum. Her tone was one of disgust as she said, "Do keep your vulgar words to yourself."

Flicking an invisible speck of dirt of her immaculate suit, Isabel smiled. But it was her husband that asked the question. "Is there any reason we are all standing here right now when we have business to tend to?"

Ian spoke up. "We don't know why we're here, Papa." Isabel smirked. "Not even our beloved Amy?"

Amy clenched her fists and met Isabel's mocking eyes. She suppressed a shiver and memories came back to her. Isabel holding her, giving away the clue; Isabel about to throw her to the sharks…

There was another flare of light, this one green. A letter fluttered down to the table, and Amy, being to closest, picked it up. Slowly opening the sheet, she stared at it, her eyes scanning the contents.

"Well, girl?" Vikram demanded. "Read it." Amy began to read, but her stuttering made it hard to discern the words. "Give it here, Amy." Dan gently took the paper from his sister, and mentally he said your welcome to Amy's mortified eyes.

Dear Dan, Amy, Nellie, Saladin, Jonah, Hamilton, Ian, Natalie, Vikram, and Isabel,

"That was long," mumbled Hamilton. No one paid him any mind.

I have brought you all here for a few reasons. But the main one is to read three books.

Amy looked faintly interested, but everyone else looked bored. Isabel narrowed her eyes, wondering if this was some kind of joke.

These three books are records of the past, and it will bring some insight to the past. You might question why I brought the Lucian leaders here, since they will obviously murder most of the people standing in this room because of the book's contents. But it is important, and Isabel, please refrain from killing your son. I'm sure that your second attempt at killing your children because of the clue hunt will not reflect well on your parenting skills.

Dan sniggered, and even Hamilton chuckled. Amy managed a smile, and Saladin gave a mrrp. Everyone was amused except for the Kabras.

"Who does this person think he is, to insult me?" Isabel hissed, her eyes glinting. Dan gulped, and hurriedly continued.

And Isabel, I am female, thank you very much. You must have grown old, because you seem to be slipping.

Dan, sensing the danger, read on quickly.

There are only three books, I assure you, so it won't be too much of your time. For the hunt's sake, I have not sent the book recording the events on Mount Everest and the ones that followed it. I'm sure that Amy and Dan would like to keep their clue safe.

At this, everyone's heads turned to look at Amy and Dan. Amy flinched, and Natalie Kabra fingered the dart gun that seemed to magically appear in her hand.

Natalie, I appreciate your incentive to win the hunt, but refrain from shooting anyone please. And I would advise everyone in this room to dispose of any weapons or cameras. Leave them on the table. You will get them back.

Dan paused, eyeing the Kabras pointedly. Hamilton and Jonah reluctantly dropped their weapons on the table, retreating back quickly. The Kabras didn't move.

"Who dares tell us what to do?" Isabel was feral, and Dan could tell that if he didn't keep reading, someone would get hurt.

Isabel Kabra, kindly put down your weapons. That goes for the rest of the Kabras and Alistair Oh.

Alistair hesitantly removed a sack from his pocket, placing it on the table. Now all eyes were on the Kabras.

Dispose of your weapons.

Slowly, and very unwillingly, each of the Kabras dropped their weapons on the table. Isabel and Natalie were clearly fuming. In a sudden flash, all of the weapons were gone.

Now that's all taken care of.

Dan couldn't help but feel that the words were smug.

For the sake of the hunt, I have managed to suspend time for the duration that you will be reading the books. But they must be read quickly, because I cannot suspend time for extended amounts of time.

"Awesome!" Dan exclaimed excitedly. "Maybe she's a ninja!" Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy, and he deflated.

I know you are all wondering who I am.

Everyone looked eager at this, even Saladin. Isabel Kabra looked as if she wanted to find out who the mystery person was so that she could tear her apart.

Well, too bad, I'm not telling. All I'm going to say is that I'm related, a close relation to about half of you in this room.

There was a sigh of disappointment. Isabel emitted a soft growl. Ian and Natalie visibly recoiled from their mother. Vikram just looked bored.

So, without further ado, let's start reading! Read the books in order. Well, they're not exactly in order, since I skipped a few chapters of the hunt. But anyways, it doesn't matter.

Get reading everyone! Oh and Isabel, you wouldn't want to harm me. Otherwise you'll have swarms of angry Cahills, Lucians and other branches alike, looking to kill you.

Get reading!

KLK

Dan finished reading, and almost magically, the letter vanished. "Now what? And who's KLK?" Natalie asked.

Dan looked at her as if she was a psycho. "Now we read," he said, in a duh sort of tone. But secretly, he wondered who KLK was. Isabel spoke up again. "Perhaps the K stands for Kabra." Dan chortled. "Right. Never." But inside, he wondered if the K did stand for Kabra. The books had appeared on the glass table. Amy reached for the one on the top of the pile.

"The Sword Thief," she read. Dan froze, and so did Ian. "Nooooooooooooooo!" Dan cried out. Ian looked terrified, and so did Amy. Amy, Dan, Ian, and Natalie stepped away from the Kabra parents.

"Korea," Alistair mused quietly, and he thought he knew why the Cahills and the Kabra children were terrified of the Kabra parents.

Isabel narrowed her eyes, but Vikram looked amused. A hungry glint was in his eye. "What are you waiting for girl? Start reading."

Amy mutely handed to the book to Dan. Help she mouthed. Dan could only shrug. He stared at the red book as if it were venomous, but began to read.

"The Sword Thief." His voice was a monotone, and he prayed that it wouldn't be too humiliating.

"Chapter One." Dan paused again, scanning the page. Reluctantly, he continued to read.

"They were toast."

Isabel snickered. "Naturally," she said snottily. Nellie rose to Amy and Dan's defense. "For all you know, that could mean Ian and Natalie."

Ian and Natalie froze, terror appearing in their eyes as their mother turned her poisonous glare on them.

"Amy Cahill eyed the battered black duffel bag rumbling up the airport conveyor belt."

"See!" Isabel's voice was triumphant. Vikram did nothing as he watched his children relax slightly.

"Could you stop interrupting?" Dan was nervous, but his angry tone belied his feelings. "It's rude."

"It bulged at the corners. The sign above the belt said THANK YOU FOR VISITING VENICE: RANDOM PIECES OF LUGGAGE WILL BE SEARCHED in five languages.

"Oh great," Amy said. "How random is 'random'?"

"I told you, a ninja warrior must always keep his swords in his carry-on," whispered his brother Dan, who had been operating on brain deficit for as long as Amy could remember.

Dan glared at his sister, who could only redden and shrug. Natalie snickered. "Watch out, Mother," she said mockingly. "Daniel is on brain deficit!" Isabel laughed.

Dan was annoyed. And embarrassed. Not to mention hungry. So he decided to keep reading.

"Excuse me, Jackie Chan, but carry-on luggage is always X-rayed," Amy whispered back. "There are extra special rules about samurai swords in backpacks. Even if they belong to scrawny, delusional eleven-year-olds who think they're ninjas."

"What was wrong with 'we need them to slice the veal parmigiana'?" Dan said. "It would have worked fine. The Italians understand food."

"Can you understand 'five to twenty years, no parole'?"

"Obviously not," sniffed Isabel. Vikram twitched the corner of his mouth into a small smile. Hamilton scowled; he didn't like how Dan was being laughed at.

Dan shrugged. He lifted up a mesh-sided pet carrier, inside of which a very disgruntled-looking Egyptian Mau was eyeing him suspiciously. "Bye-bye, Saladin," he sang into the mesh. "Remember, when we get to Tokyo…red snapper sushi every night!"

Saladin glared at Dan as if everything going wrong in the world was his fault. The cat still remembered and was silently reproaching Dan in the way that only a cat can.

"Mrrp?" whined Saladin from inside the carrier, as Dan set it gently on the conveyor belt.

"Mmmm, hmm, ohh…aaaaaaaaghhhh!" came a strangled yelp from behind them. Although everyone else in the vicinity was turning with a look of alarm, Amy and Dan knew that it was their au pair, Nellie Gomez, dancing to a tune on her iPod. She didn't care that she sounded like a dying meerkat, which was one of the many cool things about Nellie Gomez.

Jonah's mouth dropped in shock. "Yo," he mumbled, shifting away from Nellie. "Always thought you were musical, yo."

Vikram looked slightly disgusted, but again, it was Isabel and Natalie who seemed to be the most vocal. Isabel muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Filthy trash," and Ian looked at Nellie with a peculiar expression on his face.

Nellie raised her eyebrows, as if daring anyone to rebuke her singing. But apparently no one wanted to mess with the au pair. Timidly, Amy touched Nellie's arm as if in a gesture of assurance. Nellie smiled slightly.

Amy watched as the carrier disappeared through the cargo window. If the officials did search the bag, there would be alarms. Screaming Italian cops. She, Dan, and Nellie would have to run.

Not that they weren't used to that. They'd been running a lot lately. It began the day they accepted the challenge in their grandmother Grace's will. They'd had to go to her mansion in Massachusetts for that – and immediately afterward the mansion went up the flames. Since then, they'd nearly been killed in a collapsing building in Philadelphia, attacked by monks in Austria, and chased by boats through the canals in Venice. They'd been the target of dirty tricks from every branch of the Cahill family.

Ian burst out laughing. "Attacked by monks. You must be very infuriating, Daniel."

Dan twitched. Jonah didn't look happy. "Yo, that wasn't fun. Man, it took forever to get the red paint off!"

Isabel looked offended, her beautiful face in a pout. "They are not dirty tricks." Amy spoke up, her quiet, stuttering voice music to Ian's ears. But Ian did not show his emotions. He couldn't. Not with Papa and Mama here.

"Y-yes, t-they are." Amy's voice was held quiet authority. "No they are not. Kabras would never use dirty tricks." Isabel's voice was cool, her eyes hardening to chips of ice. "R-really?" Amy said sarcastically, but her voice shook as she felt Ian's eyes on her. "So lying to me about who killed my parents wasn't a dirty trick, was it?"

Isabel's eyes flashed venomously. "That wasn't a lie, my dear." Amy raised her eyebrows. "Y-yes it w-was. Y-you said it w-was I-irina. B-but it w-was y-you."

Everyone's eyes were on the argument between Amy and Isabel. Dan, sensing a fight, quickly resumed reading, hoping that the next few sentences would pacify the two.

Ian watched Amy curiously, the girl who dared to stand up to his mother. Alistair also watched Amy, a coil of affection growing in him. He had been silent so far, blending into the background.

Once in a while – like every three seconds – Amy wondered why the heck they were doing this. She and Dan could have opted for a cool million dollars each, like a lot of Cahill family members did.

"Wish you had," Natalie muttered. Only Ian heard her, and he couldn't help but silently disagree. If Amy and Dan had taken the money, he would never have gotten the chance to stare at her and her "FLO" qualities. Even if their involvement made his parents and Daniel furious. Daniel he couldn't care more about, but his parents were a different matter.

But Grace had offered another choice: a race for 39 Clues to a secret that had been hidden for centuries, the greatest source of power the world had known.

Until then, Amy and Dan had been leading pretty lame, ordinary lives.

"And you still do," snapped Isabel Kabra. Vikram did nothing, but his eyes held devotion and agreement with his wife.

After their parents had died seven years ago, their crabby Aunt Beatrice had taken them in – and the only cool thing she'd ever done was hire Nellie. But now they knew they were part of something way bigger, a huge family that included ancestors like Ben Franklin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It seemed like all the great geniuses of the world had been Cahills. That was pretty amazing.

"Hey, Amy, did you ever want to, like, get on the conveyor belt and see what happened? Like, 'Hey, don't mind me, I'm just hanging with the cargo'?"

And then there was Dan.

Amy chuckled softly. "Wow, Amy," Dan grumbled. "Nice to see you love me so much."

"You know what would happen Daniel?" Ian said. "They would just mistake you for cargo. You certainly lack the brains to not be cargo."

Alistair spoke up for the first time, and everyone glanced at him in shock. The Ekaterina had been so silent, so unassuming, that everyone forgot that he was even there.

"Actually, Ian," Alistair said conversationally. "I think you'll find that Dan is very clever. Perhaps it is you who lacks the brains. After all, how many clues have you found so far? Hmmm?"

Alistair tapped his chin. Ian flushed scarlet, and if looks could kill, Ian and Alistair would both be dead, courtesy of Isabel Kabra, the loving mother. Dan was surprised that Uncle Alistair would say this, but he sent a grateful look to him anyway.

"Come on!" Amy grabbed her brother by the arm and headed for the departure gates. Nellie was right on their heels, spinning the wheels of her iPod with one hand and adjusted her snake nose ring with the other.

Amy eyed the airport clock. 2:13. The flight was scheduled to leave at 2:37. This was an international flight. You were supposed to arrive at the airport two hours in advance, not twenty four minutes. "We're not going to make it!" Amy said.

"Unfortunately, you did," Natalie mumbled.

Now they were running toward gate 4, dodging other passengers. "Guess they didn't find Rufus and Remus, huh?" Dan called out.

"Rufus and Remus?" Hamilton spoke up, dumbfounded. "You smuggled kids into the airport?"

"Who are Rufus and Remus?" Amy asked.

"The swords!" Dan said. "I named them after the founders of Italy.

"It's Romulus and Remus," Amy hissed. "And they founded Rome. And don't ever say that word!"

"Rome?"

"No – s – w – o –r – d." Amy dropped her voice to a whisper as they pulled up to the rear of a very long security line.

"See, mother," Natalie said smugly. "We always skip the lines."

Amy rolled her eyes. Alistair smirked. "Yes, you skip the lines. What a sight you must look, Mrs. Kabra, when you are skipping down the lines." Alistair had taken "skip" literally.

Dan burst out laughing, the book slipping out of his hands. Chortling, he bent down to pick it up. "Awesome, Uncle Alistair," he chuckled.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Keep reading, you dweeb."

"Do you want us to go to j – a – i – l?"

"O – o – p –s."

"O-O-O-O…" Nellie wailed off-key to some unidentified punk track.

The security line seemed to take, like, thirty-two hours. The worst part for Amy, as always, was having to take off her jade necklace to go through the X-ray machine. She hated to part from that necklace even for a minute. When they emerged, the clock read 2:31. They raced down a long corridor toward the gate.

"Materialistic much, my dear?" Isabel seemed to be taking every chance to shoot down Amy. But Amy held her ground. "No, I'm not materialistic." Her voice was clear and unwavering. "You are."

Amy met the eyes of one of the few people she was terrified of, gazing calmly into Isabel Kabra's eyes. Both kept up the staring contest until Isabel Kabra finally looked away. Amy smiled triumphantly.

Ian watched Amy, marveling at her. She dared go against his mother, and she won. He shook his head, the movement barely noticeable. Amy was full of surprises.

"Now boarding all remaining passengers for Japan Airlines, flight eight-oh-seven to Tokyo, at gate four," said a voice over the PA system in heavily accented English. "Have your boarding passes ready, and…arrrrrrrivederci!"

They pulled up to the rear of the line behind a sniffling toddler who turned and sneezed on Nellie. "Ew. Manners?" she said, wiping her arm on her sleeve.

Natalie looked repulsed.

"Has anyone seen my boarding pass?" Dan said, rummaging in his pockets.

"Have mine," drawled Nellie. "It's covered with boogers."

"Try inside your book," Amy said, pointing toward the paperback stuffed in Dan's back pocket.

He pulled out a dog-eared copy of Classic All-Time Movie Comedies, which he'd found in the backseat of the cab on the way to the airport. The boarding pass was marking page 93. "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," Dan said.

"That's the smartest observation you've made all day," Amy said.

Dan put down the book, glaring at his older sister who was smiling innocently. "Stop doing that," he growled.

Amy widened her eyes. "Who, me?"

"Yes, you." Dan was getting annoyed.

"What did I do?" Amy asked, smirking slightly. Dan rolled his eyes in frustration. "You do know this already happened right?" Dan twitched again, but picked up the book.

Everyone else was watching this curiously, each of them having nostalgic thoughts, except for the Kabra parents.

Wish I had a sis, Jonah thought gloomily. Mum never lets me tease her.

Look at them, Alistair thought sadly. That could have been my childhood. I'd still be in the hunt, but at least dad would be alive.

Wish Dad approved of me, Hamilton was watching the Cahill siblings with a mix of envy and sadness. So hard to do things right. But I know I'm smarter than him.

It's not fair, Ian was petulant and jealous. But the Kabras never show affection.

This was all hidden to the oblivious Amy and Dan.

"It's the name of a movie," Dan replied. "I'm reading about it. The plot is so awesome –"

"Step forward please – welcome aboard!" chirped a perky blond flight attendant whose Japan Airlines headset bobbed every time she nodded a greeting. She was wearing a name tag that read: I. RINALDI.

Nellie handed over her boarding pass and heading into the accordion-walled tunnel that led to the plane's hatch. "Um guys, this shouldn't be so hard to do," she called over her shoulder.

Dan held out his pass to the attendant. "It's really a funny movie. Like, all these old-school comedians searching for this treasure –"

"Sorry, but he's challenged," Amy said to the attendant, handing over her pass and nudging him toward the tunnel.

"There you go again!" Dan hissed. Amy only smiled.

Both of then quieted down and grew serious as they realized the events that would happen next. The Kabras would finally get a bit of glory, Dan realized, as he glared at Ian venomously.

But Ms. Rinaldi scooted in front of them, blocking their path. "Un momento?" she said, trying to keep her airline smile while listening to something over her headset. "Si…ah, si si si si…buono," she said into the headset mike.

Then, with a shrug towards Amy and Dan, she said, "You come with me, please?"

Ian and Natalie were smiling triumphantly, and those who had not been there were watching them suspiciously. Isabel and Vikram, the loving parents, both gave a sharp, snake like grin.

As they followed her toward the corner, Amy tried to keep herself from shaking. The swords. They'd found the swords.

Dan was looking all puppy-eyed at her. Sometimes all she needed to do was look at him, and she knew exactly what he was thinking.

Maybe we should run, his eyes were saying.

Uh, where? She said back to him silently.

I will make myself invisible by using ninja mind control, he was thinking.

You have to HAVE a mind to do it, she beamed to him.

Dan would have retorted, but he wanted to get this chapter over with. Shorten the Kabra glory to as small as possible.

Nellie peered out from the tunnel entrance. "What's going on?" she asked.

"It is routine," Ms. Rinaldi called out, turning to face Amy and Dan. "My supervisor tells me it is random check. You please wait here by the wall?"

She bustled away, holding the two boarding passes, and disappeared around the corner.

"We never should have given the passes to her," Dan grumbled.

From inside the tunnel, another attendant called out to Nellie, "Please take your seat. Don't worry, the plane will not leave without all passengers."

"I hate airports." Nellie rolled her eyes and turned back toward the plane. "See you inside. I'll save you a bag of peanuts."

Natalie sniffed. "Peanuts," she muttered distastefully.

As she disappeared, Amy hissed to her brother, "I knew it – they searched your duffel. They're going to detain us and contact Aunt Beatrice and that's the last we'll ever see of Nellie –"

"Will you stop being so gloomy?" Dan said. "We'll tell them someone else put the swor – the you-know-whats in the duffel. We never saw them before in our lives. We're kids. They always believe kids. And besides, maybe they haven't searched our bags. Maybe they're just double-checking your passport to make sure they can allow someone so ugly to board a plane –"

Amy elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ow!" Dan yelped in pain. "What was that for, Amy?" Amy had done exactly what she had done in the book.

Ian opened his mouth to defend Amy from Daniel's words that she was ugly, but catching his mother's eye, quickly closed it. He didn't want to die.

"Final boarding call, flight eight-oh-seven to Tokyo, gate four!" a voice boomed.

A third attendant was putting a web-ribbon barrier in front of the tunnel.

Amy was nervous now. They weren't going to hold the plane forever. "We have to get that flight attendant – Rinaldi," she said. "Come on!"

Amy grabbed Dan by the arm and they raced to the corner, taking it at a run.

Whomp! They ran smack into another pair who was racing toward the gate. Amy bounced away, the wind momentarily knocked out of her. She bumped into Dan, who nearly fell to the floor. "What the –" he blurted.

The two strangers were wrapped in full length black trench coats with high collars obscuring their faces. One of them wore expensive black dress shoes; the other, jewel encrusted sneakers.

"Cobra alert," muttered Dan.

As they barreled past Dan and Amy, waving boarding passes in the air, one of them called out, "Clear, please!"

Amy recognized the voice. She grabbed Dan and whirled around. The two were grabbing the barrier and pulling it aside. "Wait!" Amy said.

An airline official shouted at them, too, sprinting to head them off. The two politely stopped and handed over their boarding passes. He examined the passes quickly, nodded, and pulled back the barrier. "Enjoy your flight, Amy and Dan."

Isabel Kabra was getting the gist of the whole situation. She smiled victoriously. Dan ground his teeth furiously. Even Hamilton looked a little mad at what he suspected what the Kabras had did.

The two passengers stepped into the tunnel entrance and immediately turned around. They pulled down their raised collars and grinned.

Amy gasped at the sight of their cousins, their archrivals in the search for the 39 clues, a pair whose nastiness was surpassed only by their wealth and cunning.

"Sayonara, suckers!" sang Ian and Natalie Kabra.

Dan snapped the book shut. "That's the end of the chapter."

All of the Kabras were smiling, and Vikram couldn't hide a flash of pride in his eyes. Alistair cleared his throat, making a lame comeback. It was the only one he could think of. "You pronounced Sayonara wrong," he said matter-of-factly.

The Kabras rolled their eyes and ignored him. But Amy wasn't finished. "Well," she said casually. "Y-you should b-be p-proud, Isabel."

Isabel raised her eyebrows. "And why is that, Amy?" her voice was poisonously sweet.

"Oh, y-you k-know," Amy answered. "B-because t-that's going t-to b-be one of the f-few t-things y-your kids a-actually g-get r-right." Amy smiled innocently.

Before Isabel could attack, Dan handed the book quickly to Hamilton. "Go, on, read the next chapter." Hamilton took the book and opened to the next chapter. Dan prayed that the next chapter wouldn't be so bad.